The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) is pleased to announce its affiliation to the Anti-fascist network (AFN).

The HSA has always had a policy of inclusion, welcoming anyone into our ranks regardless of race, creed, gender, religion or sexuality, and has been forced over the years to confront and exclude people who have been proved to be racist or fascist.

Our active members have for years been the subject of racist (and sexist) abuse from the hunting community which only highlights that our struggle to end hunting also promotes a more ethical attitude to both humans and animals.

Both the HSA and AFN promote a policy of confronting those engaged in racism and hunting respectively, on the streets and in the countryside. To not only stop such activities continuing but also to highlight them to the wider public.

While other organisations hide their heads in their hands, hoping that a few leaflets or email shots will make the problems go away, we are clear that the only way to end both hunting and racism is confront it head on, so those who partake of such actions and attitudes are clear that we will oppose them until they stop.

If there ever was a modern-day vigilante hero, so to speak, this is him. An acknowledged Antifa leader, Aleksey had been continuously hassled by the joint efforts of all varieties of Russian popo, until the “anti-extremist” squad finally managed to pin him down (under similar circumstances as depicted below) on fabricated charges in 2012.

Along with several other prominent antifascists, Aleksey had spent almost 2 years in jail awaiting a “trial” that never came. He was finally released under Putin’s bullshit amnesty only 3 months ago. Pigs however, being pigs, are obviously unable to let go of an old grudge and are now back at him in full-force (when they’re not too busy toppling neighboring states, shooting protesters from machine guns and starting WWIII.)

Today, on April 8th, 2014, a Judge of the Moscow Zamoskvorechye Court has again confined Aleksey “Sokrat” Sutuga – one of Moscow’s most prominent antifascists, to jail. He is being charged with disorderly conduct by a group of persons – a criminal offense under Part 2 of Article 213 of the Russian Constitution. Sutuga’s lawyer had pleaded with the judge for a measure of restraint that did not involve detention. Several of Aleksey’s friends had been willing to provide him with living quarters in the case of a house-arrest verdict.

Sutuga was arrested on the evening of April 5th, on his way from an antifascist concert in Moscow’s Izmailovo district . The protocol of his arrest states “hooliganism” as a premise for his detention – Sutuga was allegedly cursing loudly in public. (Although according to some accounts Aleksey had been detained by members of the infamous “anti-extrimist” squad along with riot police.)

On April 6th, however, Aleksey was already taken to Moscow’s Criminal Police Headquarters, where he was told that he is a suspected culprit in a fight that had occurred on January 2nd .

According to Aleksey, that evening he was returning from a friend’s house with another acquaintance, when he had stumbled upon an ongoing fight between a group of 6 vs. a group of 3 unknown young men. According to Sutuga , the group of 6 men was of far-right persuasion, one of them had non-lethal handgun (traumatic weapons are legal and widespread in Russia.) The six nazis are now depicted as Sutuga’s “victims”.

Sutuga says that he had intervened in the fight, intending to stop it and subdue the opponents. His testimony is confirmed by his friend, who had witnessed the incident with him. The victims later identified Sutuga through online photographs, and, according to investigators, his “overly expressive appearance .”

Aleksey’s lawyer drew attention to the fact that one of the victims had already taken part in a face-to-face recognition procedure with Aleksey, and had not declared that he was attacked by Aleksey in his subsequent testimony, as it is stated in the police protocol. In addition, at the beginning of the court session, the statutory 48 hours pre-trial detention period had long expired.

Nevertheless , the judge recognized the prosecutors’ notion that Aleksey could allegedly flee if not detained in jail, and proceeded to enter him government custody until May 6th, 2014.

As a reminder, not so long ago, Sutuga had already been detained for over a year as a suspect in a fight with nationalists in the “Vozdukh” night club. On January 10th, 2014 his case had been dismissed due to a general amnesty.

After days of spreading misinformation to the police, council and opposition groups, the National Front finally held their annual ‘White Pride’ demonstration at Swansea Castle on Saturday. By doing their best to convince residents that it wasn’t going ahead and keeping their rally point secret – it was obvious that the organisers didn’t expect any public support and were worried about the size of the opposition.

Unfortunately, one group that fell for the trick were Swansea Unite Against Fascism (UAF) who called off their counter demo after apparently being assured by police that the event wasn’t going ahead.

However by midday groups of skinheads were congregating in the vicinity of Castle Square around Yates bar, and a diverse counter-demonstration was gathering in the square itself.

Around thirty NF supporters unfurled fascist banners outside the castle, they were quickly outnumbered by around 100 antifascists on the other side of the road. The NF found themselves served with restrictions by police, and were ordered to disperse after only an hour.

As they were being dispersed a few up for it antifascists were able to directly confront the White Pride supporters. A small scuffle broke out and a fascist flag was snatched before the NF could be escorted to Ice bar on Wind St, where the boneheads consoled themselves by getting pissed and shouting racist abuse.

“I personally witnessed them shouting at a Muslim couple, who had joined the antifascist demonstration,” Al Brown of South Wales Antifascist Action told SchNEWS “They called the man a “paki” as police officers looked on. The cops did nothing to try to stop the abuse, and wouldn’t listen to the man’s wife when she tried to complain about it.”

After Ice bar, the NF were escorted up to another bar – Static on Kingsway, where antifascists kept watch behind a police cordon. A phone blockade was organised , and the bar’s management in Bristol responded by travelling to Swansea in order to have the racist crowd removed. The NF were then quickly marched by police to the station and made to get on a train.

“South Wales Antifascist Action had a 30-strong bloc and we opposed them every step of the way. It seemed like some kind of pathetic racist pub crawl facilitated by the police, who seemed content to turn a blind eye to all the harassment the NF were causing to Swansea residents. Officers could even be seen exchanging handshakes with NF supporters outside Static. It’s really troubling that they would fraternise in this way with people who were shouting racist insults and threats of violence during the day,” said Al Brown.

“I don’t think Unite Against Fascism can take any credit at all for the counter demonstration on Saturday. They took the fascists’ bait and called off their demo, then ignored other groups who had assurances it was still happening. But SWAFA, Swansea Trades Council and a lot of interested local residents went ahead without them. We want to thank everyone who took part, whatever their background, because we know that true strength lies in diversity.”

A WHITE PRIDE WORLD WIDE DEMONSTRATION HAS BEEN CALLED BY THE NATIONAL FRONT IN SWANSEA ON THE 5th OF APRIL 2014. THE DEMO IS CO-ORGANISED BY AN UMBRELLA GROUP OF BRITISH WHITE NATIONALIST THAT CALL THEMSELVES ‘FOR RACE AND NATION COLLECTIVE’.

The National Front is on the rise in south Wales. In January 2014, they held their Annual General Meeting in Swansea. This meeting went ahead un-disrupted by any antifascist and/or Antifa.

Since then, people from several areas throughout south Wales have contacted the NF to organise local demonstrations. In one of them, a small group of people confronted them. However, no call out was made nationally.

In March 2013, the first UK-wide White Pride World Wide event was held in Swansea organised by the National Front. Up to 100 fascists attended and although outnumbered, they held a static demonstration with minimal confrontation or disruption. This time, they are trying to make it bigger than last year.

This were the scenes in Swansea at last year’s White Pride World Wide event for which Christopher Philips was jailed

The NF is also part of For Race and Nation Collective: a combination of multiple fascists groups who believe in white supremacy. They are co-organising this demonstration.

If they are not properly confronted again, the city of Swansea is in danger of becoming the White Pride UK Capital. Swansea is becoming the NF capital in Wales, as mentioned earlier.

Opposing the NF demo last year

This as we know, must not happen. Fascists should not be welcomed in
Swansea, Wales or anywhere on this planet. We, as anti-fascists in Wales want the National Front and all fascist groups out and out forever.

This is an urgent call out for anyone who identifies as an anti-fascist to come to Swansea on the 5th of April 2014.

This is the time when we urgently need all the support from anyone from anywhere who is against fascism and racism.

Please put the 5th of April 2014 in your diary and come to Swansea to stop the UK’s White Pride World Wide.

See you on the streets! ¡No Pasarán!

We are an independent group of antifa people who live in Wales. Our main objective is to organise resistance against fascism in Swansea. We are currently organising a counter demo.

The demo was followed in the evening by a Blood and Honour gig hosted at the Valley Commandos Motorcycle Club.

VCMC denied all knowledge of the event’s true nature, but given that their logo is an SS death’s head and they appear to have hosted neo-Nazi events before (see comments here), it does make you wonder… Hopefully they will not be repeating their mistake and hosting Nazis again.

.. and didn’t tell anybody. They seem to be hanging their nazi fishing rods outside an ‘international food store’. The mind boggles. Luckily someone managed to extract the snaps they took of themselves from the Worcester EDL facebook page before the EDL mysteriously removed all trace of them?

Dave Coppin, from Margate.

Local people didn’t seem too pleased to hear about the EDL’s ‘flash demo’ in their town.